Traitors
by Children0fTheStars
Summary: A short little one-shot about how, during the invasion of Earthrealm, Rain was convinced into joining the Earthrealm warriors by a fellow Edenian, Kitana. Rated M for brief moments of fantasy gore.


Traitors

**Author's Note: The canon basis of this story comes from Rain's original lore from Mortal Kombat Trilogy, so some things might not add up perfectly with the current timeline.**

The vast landscape being littered with bodies and other remnants of war, the Outworld wastelands were home to few. A perpetual shroud of twilight covered the land; a constant, grim reminder of the emperor's ruthless and merciless rule. Yet on one evening, someone could be found here.

Standing on a cliff above the coast that bordered the wastelands was a figure clothed in ornate purple, his face concealed by a mask. The man was Rain, the mysterious and powerful enforcer of Shao Kahn. His arms were crossed, and he looked as though he was deep in thought as he gazed out across the dreary ocean.

_My patience wears thin. I have been nothing but loyal to Shao Kahn, I have crushed his enemies, yet he is too blind to realize my potential, my value to Outworld. Still he thinks of me as merely a personal assassin._

_I am deserving of far more, am I not?_

Too wrapped up in his moment of personal hubris, he did not detect the person approaching him. A voice called out: "Rain."

He opened his eyes, but did not turn around. He knew that voice.

"Hm. Kitana. What are you doing here? Coming to me, no less? Or did you forget that you're a wanted traitor?" he scoffed out, as though he was mildly entertained by her boldness.

The woman in blue took a single step forward. In one hand at her side she held one of her war-fans, but was not brandishing it. "Traitor? That's an interesting word coming from you. You were among the Edenians to betray our realm to Shao Kahn."

Rain then did turn to face her. "I made a choice. That choice was to accept this conqueror as my new leader. Realistically speaking, there wasn't even a choice to be made. There was no point in trying to fight him. And besides, in serving him well, he has rewarded me equally." This time, Kitana scoffed. "Has he now?"

"You don't even know how much you've been used as a mere tool of his, Rain. Or… perhaps you do. But you aren't even aware of what he has done to you."

Rain narrowed his eyes. "Done… to me? What?"

Although they were supposed to be enemies, Kitana actually spoke with a surprising level of gentleness, perhaps even pity. "Rain, the two of us are more alike than you think. Edenia was our home. We both had to pledge our allegiance to the same tyrant. We both served under him without question. And behind our backs, he has greatly wronged both of us. Did you ever even know why I abandoned Shao Kahn?"

He stood motionless and silent. Kitana continued, "I thought not. It was because I had discovered the truth. That my whole life was a lie, that Shao Kahn was not my father. My father was a loyal Edenian who had the audacity to resist the Outworld invasion, and the false emperor…" She paused for a moment, but made no outward sign of emotion. "Shao Kahn made him pay for it."

At this, Rain replied. "And who told you that? The Earthrealmers? Why should you believe anything they say?" Kitana answered, "I didn't even need to take their word for it. While the Outworld Mortal Kombat tournament was running its course, the emperor revealed to me his true colors. You speak about choices? I chose to escape from this tyrant and do the right thing: defeat him. To help Earthrealm achieve victory over Outworld. And ultimately, I intend to have Edenia restored. Which brings me to why I'm here, Rain."

The ninja shook his head in disbelief. "What makes you think I would betray Outworld now?" Kitana asked in reply, "Your parents, can you remember them? Your father?" Rain's eyes widened slightly in anger. _She is not honestly suggesting…? No… No, this is a trick._

Kitana rightly interpreted Rain's reaction. "You know in your heart what I'm about to tell you, don't you? Rain, your father was a leader in the Edenian resistance. Shao Kahn… made an example out of him, as a warning to any who sought to oppose him."

Rain stood absolutely still, then shook his head ever so slightly. Then he started to tremble in rage. "You're lying. You're lying! I've heard enough!" Very suddenly, he entered a combat pose and dashed forward.

Kitana reactively brandished her two war-fans, preparing for the ninja's assault. Rain attacked first with two quick strikes, but in his anger he had thrown himself off-balance, allowing Kitana to easily sidestep his punches. She swung one leg out forcefully, connecting perfectly with Rain's head, sending him reeling. She followed up with a second kick powerful enough to knock him down and away.

Wincing, Rain stood up and approached again. Kitana had a fan readied to strike with, but Rain spun around and made a chop towards Kitana's legs. Clipping her, he made a second motion with both hands, slamming downward. The hit connected and Kitana was thrown backwards. However, she was able to recover with a roll. She countered by hurling a single fan, forcing Rain to block the weapon. As he did, she dashed forward to take advantage of his defensive maneuver and kicked outward again. Striking him, she brought her second fan downward in a fast, sweeping attack, throwing him to the ground in return.

This time, she did not hold back. As Rain fell, she dashed forward and swept him back up into the air with her fans. She leapt forward with a mid-air kick delivered to Rain's chest, and swiped a single fan at him at the same time. The force of the blows sent him spiraling away. He gave a short scream of pain as he landed, but as he recovered he opened up a watery portal beneath himself. He sank into it, reappearing behind Kitana. He grabbed her, launched them both high into the air and slammed her into the ground. She tried to get up with a roll, but Rain had thrown a blast of water at her.

The projectile connected, enveloping Kitana in water. She choked, unable to move; there was nothing she could do as Rain telekinetically guided her airborne, then released the spell. In a rapid motion, Rain created two portals of water on either side of the combatants, and as Kitana fell he spun around with a powerful kick, sending her through one portal, and she reappeared behind him. While she was still in mid-air, he lashed out with two punches, then raised a single arm skyward. In spite of the shock of the blows, Kitana rolled quickly out of the way as a beam of lightning crashed down where she had been seconds before. Rain then realized too late that he had thrown himself off-balance again, and Kitana was too close. From a crouched position, she struck upwards with a single fan, a powerful blow sending Rain high into the air.

He lay gasping, but Kitana did not take advantage of his moment of vulnerability. Rain partially stood up and began to channel water throughout his body, his wounds appearing to recede. He was briefly healing himself. Kitana then spoke. "I did not come to harm you. I want to help you."

But Rain still approached once more, combat-ready. They squared off; Rain kicked out twice, but was blocked by Kitana. She countered with a flurry of fan strikes, finishing with an upward sweep again. As Rain was sent airborne, Kitana ran forward delivering one strong high kick as he fell, then kicked three times, all hits connecting. Rain attempted to get up and launch a blast of water again, but he was too late; Kitana had leapt high into the air, coming down on Rain's head with a forceful blow. They had become backed up against a wide, tall statue, so Kitana thrust her fans forward one more time and flung Rain into the air, pinned him against the statue with a rapid series of kicks and fan strikes. He fell down, having been hit with such force that he was bounced off of the statue, causing Kitana to end up between it and Rain. He was too disoriented from the assault to do anything about Kitana's final blow; she spun upward with a single fan and knocked him far away with a spin-kick.

Rain lay groaning as Kitana approached him. "Sooner or later, you'll have to learn to listen, Rain. I am not going to harm you any more than this, but I intend on completing my mission here." He muttered in return, "I don't believe what you have to say. I have no need of Earthrealm attempting to deceive me just so you can fight a hopeless war."

Kitana shook her head sadly. "If you refuse to take me at my word, then so be it. Perhaps, instead, witnessing the truth for yourself will change your mind." She held out some sort of azure-colored amulet. Rain looked up in confusion, then tried to back away. _She thinks that showing me a false vision is supposed to-…?_

But as he was doing so, the amulet seemed to react with Rain's powers. Water surged between himself and the trinket, and he appeared to fall into a trance. The world around him faded slightly, and he felt as though he was being carried across time and space. Eventually, Rain found himself looking at a man and a young boy. He stared; it was his father, and himself.

Quite literally, Rain's early life was flashing before his eyes, as well as the life of his father. He was indeed shown to be an Edenian resistance leader, and he watched as their once-beautiful realm was conquered and absorbed by Outworld, by Shao Kahn and his vicious armies. Then the vision reached its critical moment: Rain looked and saw the emperor himself, standing up in front of his coliseum throne. There, before him, was Rain's father. Within the coliseum were crowds of both Tarkatans and Edenians; the former victoriously jeering, the latter all marked with defeat and fear. Rain heard no sounds from the vision, but he could tell that Shao Kahn was speaking loudly. His father only hung his head, making no noise or movement. Eventually, the emperor looked down, reached out and grabbed Rain's father by the jaw, and snapped his neck. The cheering of the Tarkatans intensified, and Shao Kahn raised a single arm in victory. Then the vision melted away.

Rain stood very still before Kitana. This time there was no anger on his face, only shock. She withdrew the amulet. "I am deeply sorry it came to this, Rain. We felt that you needed to know the truth. I won't choose your destiny for you; I leave that to you alone." With that, Kitana turned around and disappeared into the wastelands. Rain shut his eyes, and swallowed hard with a shudder, then stood up. Before he had a chance to contemplate what had happened, a harsh voice called out to him again. He turned to find a shadowy warrior, a man veiled in darkness with eyes of pure white. He was a Brotherhood of Shadow disciple.

"Rain! Was the traitor princess just here?"

Rain stood silently, narrowing his eyes at the demonically-empowered man, who began to grow impatient. "Speak! Where did she go?" The ninja still said nothing. "Well, no matter. If she is foolish enough to stay in Outworld, our spies can hunt her down. The emperor wishes to speak to you."

Now Rain did break his silence. "Does he, now? I don't think that's going to happen." The Shadow Warrior chuckled, but then menacingly approached. Rain rushed forward and struck him twice in the head, and kicked upwards forcefully. He summoned a barrage of lightning strikes out of the sky, shocking his assailant over and over. Eventually he stood dazed. Rain said darkly, "As it happens, I myself have a message for Shao Kahn, fiend. And here it is." Rain raised his hands, pulsing with water. A high-pressure orb of water formed at the Shadow Warrior's legs. Rain caused the orb to collapse, and a sickening snap of limbs was heard. The legs had been broken clean off of his body. With a shout, Rain raised his arm high into the air, a long beam of water extending from his hand, and brought it down furiously across the disciple's neck. Black blood spilled forth, his head detached, and as the body fell it appeared to burst into a puddle of shadows, dissipating into the ground.

Not long afterwards, Rain found himself at one of Outworld's pivotal locations: The portal that had been ripped open between this world and Earthrealm. Oddly enough, he was not alone; two warriors had just appeared from the portal. One of them was Kitana, the other a Shaolin monk, his torso exposed and wearing black and red pants, as well as a red headband. He was Liu Kang. Although Rain once thought of the newest Mortal Kombat champion as his greatest enemy, in greeting he brought his hands together and bowed. The Shaolin seemed surprised, but turned to Kitana. "So you were able to get through to him after all." He then addressed Rain. "We gladly accept your help." Rain nodded.

"Kitana was right. I was nothing more than an Edenian traitor. Now I mean to atone for that. Shao Kahn's oppression has affected all of us. And he must pay."


End file.
